Historical marker honoring Emmett Till riddled with bullet holes

This undated photo shows a sign marking the spot where Emmett Till's body was found in Mississippi on Aug. 31, 1955 (Emmett Till Interpretive Center)

A historical marker placed at the site where Emmett Till's body was found in a Mississippi river has been riddled with dozens of bullet holes, activists say.

Till, a 14-year-old black boy from Chicago, was visiting relatives in the South when he was kidnapped and lynched for whistling at a white woman on Aug. 28, 1955. his body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River three days later.

Two half-brothers were acquitted of the killing by an all-white jury, but confessed in a magazine interview months later. The case is now considered to be a galvanizing moment in the civil rights movement.

A photo of the vandalized marker was posted on Facebook last week by Kevin Wilson Jr.

"That marker was just evidence that there are people who are still living in those areas who still hold those ideologies dear to their heart,” he told WJTV. "Ideology that we’re trying to get away from."

The station reported that the marker has been vandalized several times dating back to at least 2008. No one has ever been arrested in connection with the damage.

The Emmett Till Interpretive Center, based across the street from the courthouse where the Till murder trial took place, has raised more than $15,000 to replace the sign.